Two street signs that I thought nicely captures the character of our Cascadian neighbour:
This one is a warning for cyclists in the Pearl District to be wary of the streetcar tracks.
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I always wonder about the argument some people (cyclists?) make about the tracks being too dangerous to construct. Not only does it seem to be the ultimate in nanny state hand-holding, but also because in comparison to some other obstacles (like curbs!), comparatively the tracks pose little threat.
You must really suck at cycling if streetcar rails can take you down on a bike.
They wouldn’t be a problem if you ride perpendiular to them, but on a rainy day, making a left hand turn across them from the right hand side of the same (inside) lane (i.e. where bikes are supposed to turn from) means that your angle of approach to the tracks is pretty sharp – increasing the possibility of skidding across them or catching your tire in the groove.
The streetcar tracks and other in-street tracks around Portland are probably second only to piles of wet leaves for number of single-vehicle bike crashes caused. Unfortunately the criteria for choosing streets to bicycle down and for choosing streets to put streetcars in are the same: direct routes with relatively low auto traffic. So people are often riding parallel to the tracks. If you’re not paying close attention, and your front wheel drops into the groove, you’re pretty much over the handlebars automatically.